How to do good and make the world a safer place

As 2025 draws to a close, we naturally reflect on what we can do in the coming year - not just for our families and communities, but for the world. The holidays are not just a time for personal resolutions, but also for questions that go beyond everyday life: how can we most effectively help the world's poor?

The UN's answer to that question proved elusive this year. A decade ago, the UN committed to addressing everything for everyone in its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - it wanted to eradicate poverty, hunger, disease, unemployment, climate change and war by 2030. But this year's progress report revealed a harsh reality: only 18 percent of the UN's 169 goals are on track, while a third are stagnating or even heading in the wrong direction.

Although global hunger has fallen slightly, child malnutrition in Africa has risen. The education crisis - with more than half of 10-year-olds in low-income countries still unable to read a simple sentence - has hardly improved at all.

We didn't hear much about these development issues in 2025 because the world was overwhelmed by pressing geopolitical and economic events. Russia's war against Ukraine was further driving up food and fertiliser prices. Conflicts in the Middle East and Sudan drove millions of people from their homes. Soaring debt costs in developing countries have made investment in health and education even more difficult.

We can't do everything at once

The harsh reality is that 2026 will bring even fewer resources to do good. We must stop pretending that we can afford to do everything at once, as the SDGs still demand. When every dollar is precious, dividing 100 cents among 169 pledges means minimal progress anywhere.

Yet there are hopeful solutions. For years, the Copenhagen Consensus think tank has been working with more than 100 leading economists and several Nobel laureates to find the answer to a simple question: when money is scarce, where can every dollar make the most difference?

Our peer-reviewed research, freely available in a series of studies published in partnership with Cambridge University Press, highlights a dozen highly effective policies that are delivering stunning results even in today's challenging financial climate.

Nutrition is a good example. More than eight per cent of the world's population is undernourished, but we know that helping children in the first thousand days of life - from the time in the womb to the early years - can deliver tremendous results at a relatively low cost. For as little as about $2.50, we can provide mothers with supplements with multiple micronutrients during pregnancy. This prevents growth retardation and permanent damage to the baby's cognitive abilities. The child is thus more likely to grow up stronger and more intelligent, allowing him or her to be more productive in adulthood.

Research shows that every dollar invested yields up to $40 in lifetime economic benefits. This surpasses the effectiveness of most development policies in place today.

Consider the education crisis, where research has already shown simple and proven solutions. If children spend an hour a day on cheap tablets with educational software, they can learn at their own pace and level. At the same time, structured plans for each classroom help teachers teach more effectively. These measures cost only $10 to $30 per child per year, but can double or even triple a school's overall effectiveness.

At a time when education budgets are shrinking, these interventions yield a return of $65 to $80 for every dollar invested. Rather than condemning the next generation to illiteracy and low productivity, these solutions offer real hope.

The fight against tuberculosis (TB) and malaria is losing momentum. Yet it is the intensification of TB diagnosis, six-month TB treatment regimens and the distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets that are among the absolute best investments in global health. Every dollar invested in these interventions generates between $46 and $48 in social benefits.

Where to put your money effectively and who to support

Twelve such measures together would cost about $35 billion a year, a negligible amount compared to the more than $10 trillion that would be needed to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Yet an investment of USD 35 billion could save more than four million lives each year and increase the annual income of the poor half of the planet by a trillion dollars, bringing stability, new jobs and making the world a safer place. That means an average return of more than $50 for every dollar invested.

Governments should adopt these twelve proven policies without delay. Philanthropists, and the rest of us, can direct our year-end donations to charities that actually deliver malaria nets, vitamins, tuberculosis treatment, and effective education programs.

These organizations achieve hundreds of times more benefit than marketing-appealing campaigns with vague reach.

The lesson for 2026 is stark but important: when resources are limited, we must stop promising everything at once and instead invest wisely - where every dollar will bring the greatest benefit.